Creating Internet Policies

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The internet has grown extensively in the past two decades that Americans have been actively using it.  It is home to more than 233 million websites and people use it for everything from research to connecting with others and sharing information.

As the technology develops, small business owners have more reason to create policies regarding internet usage of their employees, both during and outside of work.  In fact, many small business owners have already developed some type of internet policy, either as a result of an unwanted internet-related incident, or to prevent such incidents from occurring at all.

Internet Usage at Work

According to an emarketer.com survey, 25 percent of employees use the Internet for personal use during office hours for at least ten minutes each day and 13 percent of workers use the Internet for at least two hours per day.  Many small business owners will argue that personal internet usage at work decreases productivity, while many employees will argue that it keeps them occupied during down time.  According to author, Kim Komando, every company that uses computers — from the smallest to the largest — should have a written policy on computer and Internet use.  Click here to read her suggestions for an internet usage policy.

Social Networking Policies

There have been many cases where employees have come into hot water for things such as status updates on sites like Facebook and Twitter (click here and here for examples).  Therefore, having a social media policy for your business may be necessary.  Both Mashable and Marketing Zen offer lists of 10 must-haves for your social media policy.

Overseeing Blogs

“There is some hesitation about employee blogs because an employee may disclose confidential business information, talk negatively of other employees or of the company and display an interest that is in conflict with your business policies,” wrote Tiffany Black in “How to Handle Employee Blogging.”  Still, your blogging policy should not affect your employees’ right to free speech.  Black makes 10 suggestions to small business owners who are creating a blogging policy, which include:

• State that the policy applies to both blogs for the company and personal blogs.
• Blog posts should not disclose any information that is confidential or proprietary to the company or to any third party that has disclosed information to the company.
• Blog posts should not include company logos or trademarks.